Commons Revolt Over Police Reorganisation

The Government faced stiff opposition in the Commons this week over plans to restructure the police service, not least from its own backbenches.

Labour MP Paul Flynn kicked off the debate by saying reorganisation would impede the police's ability to fight crime for next two years.

Evidence from the National Association of Retired Police Officers showed that it took ten years to recover from the last reorganisation in 1965-66 in terms of efficiency, said Mr Flynn.

‘There is no case for changing. We have the tyranny of arithmetic determinism. Someone names a number-for example, 4,000-and everyone has to fit into this Procrustean bed of having a false 4,000,’ said Mr Flynn.

Ian Lucas, Labour MP for Wrexham said there was no evidence that police performance would improve under an all-Wales force.

‘In the Welsh context, it is extremely important to consider the geographical area that would be covered by the all-Wales force. Five hours is not an unusual journey time from Holyhead to Cardiff and, from Wrexham, it takes three hours to get to Cardiff and four hours to Swansea. It is a huge area.’

David Taylor, Labour MP for North-West Leicestershire, also questioned the value of a merger for Leicestershire police.

‘Why are we changing what is a reasonable and decent force? Leicestershire is well known, rightly, for being an innovative and creative force. It contains some 2,300 officers, serving a population of just under 1 million.

‘How would we benefit from being absorbed, aggregated and expanded into a region containing nearly 4.5 million people and 10,000 officers?’

Opposition MPs also rejected the proposals. MP for Woking, Humfrey Malins, said Surrey's problems would be solved by being given more money, not amalgamation with Sussex which could drain financial resources away from the county. Surrey has one of the lowest grants per head of population in the country, and receives £88 a head compared with an average of £103 a head in the south-east.

‘Surrey's difficulties will not be sorted out by an amalgamation with Sussex or anyone else, as they stem from the underlying funding instability of the past few years.

‘The real answer is to treat Surrey police fairly-give them a chance, and they will prosper.’ -and the Home Secretary should never say that a force of 1,959 is too small to be effective.

Stephen O'Brien, Tory MP for Eddisbury, called the proposals 'below-the-table stealth regionalisation' that should be rejected out of hand.

‘We should not be shy of holding the Government to account and accusing them of issuing a false prospectus.’.

Owen Paterson Conservative MP for North Shropshire referred to the cut-off figure of 4000 officers for a force to be effective which has been rubbished by Professor Lawrance of Warwick University.

‘He argues that there are no scales on either axis, no data plotted . . . It is almost impossible to obtain any critical understanding from it, except that it is intended to prove that score for protective capability increases with force size. I can see very little hard evidence to justify the 4000 figure.’

MP Mark Francois said the plans had failed to gain public support in Essex with 70 per cent of respondents to a poll backing Essex as a stand alone force.
However a number of MPs did back the restructuring. Anne Snelgrove, Labour MP for South Swindon said her constituents were more concerned with local policing performance than what force Swindon belonged to.

‘The removal of the Wiltshire constabulary is unlikely to trouble the people of Swindon. What my constituents want is good local policing, backed up by the reassurance of strategic policing for major incidents.’

This viewed was echoed by Labour MP for Crawley, Laura Moffatt. She told the Commons: ‘People do not say that they want Sussex police to turn up. They want a police officer in their neighbourhood and that is precisely what they will get.

‘They get that now and I am glad to say that they will get it with a changed structure.’

Tom Levitt MP added: ‘It is not about centralising control in regions but about devolving power and responsibility to the divisional headquarters, to the BCUs, and into the neighbourhoods. That is exciting and to be commended.’

Nick Herbert, Tory MP for Arundel and South Downs, pointed out that out of 26 speakers only five Government members defended the proposals.

The debate continued for so long, Hazel Blears, the Minister for Policing, Security and Community Safety, had just seven minutes to deliver a robust defence to the proposals. She accused opposition parties of an 'unholy alliance' united in the no-change option.

‘There is not a blueprint, redprint or any other kind of print in the Home Office to redraw the map, which is why we asked forces and authorities to submit proposals.’

Mrs Blears then turned to individual concerns. She said the Home Office would consider Essex as a stand alone force.

She said that proposals for collaboration and federation did not get results.

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